Disposable/Reuseable Baptismal Garment

ABSTRACT

This garment is for wear by males and females alike during water baptism by immersion. The garment is a white, one-piece garment which is put on by slipping it over the wearer&#39;s head and putting the arms through the short sleeves. The garment has four openings—one each for the head, torso and each arm. Each opening is reinforced by seam binding in order to retard any stretching or tearing.

CROSS-REFERENCE RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent applicationSer. No. 61/574,677, filed Aug. 08, 2011.

This garment is for wear by males and females alike during water baptismby immersion. The garment is a white, one-piece garment which is put onby slipping it over the wearer's head and putting the arms through theshort sleeves. The garment has four openings—one each for the head,torso and each arm. Each opening is reinforced by seam binding in orderto retard any stretching or tearing.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Practiced for thousands of years in Christianity, water baptism byimmersion continues to be an essential part of conversion to the faithor thousands of churches around the world. Just as water baptism bysubmersion is integral to one's conversion, modesty for men andparticularly women while doing so is of equal importance. For many, manyyears, one of the greatest difficulties in baptizing the candidate hasbeen finding a way to keep the wet garment from exposing any facet ofthe candidate's physiology. Generally, when fabrics are wet, they tendto ding to the skin. Various methods of dress (such as wearing multiplelayers, one very thick layer, etc.) have been employed to address theproblem, but to no avail; if the fabric is too thick, the fabric willusually absorb so much water that the candidate has experienced greatdifficulty in exiting the baptismal pool due to the weight of thewater-laden garment, and if there are several layers of fabric used,each layer absorbs water, causing a similar effect. This garment,however, has been made of a fabric that addresses all of these issuesexcellently (even down to its white color, which is preferred duringbaptism as it represents the purity and cleanness of heart and soul withwhich the candidate will emerge after baptism), to the point that itsolves all of these age-old concerns. The size of the garment also meetsthe need of churches to be able to use a one-size-fits-most garment forbaptism in that during a time of baptizing several people during oneservice, there is the ease of simply taking the first garment of a groupand knowing that, regardless of whom it is handed to, it will fit andfully address any modesty concerns, which saves time and makes theexperience much more seamless for the candidates as well as thebaptismal attendants.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This baptismal garment is constructed with flannel-backed/expanded vinyl(hereinafter referred to as “flannel-backed vinyl”). It is alightweight, completely opaque, completely cling-free and highlywater-repellant material affords the wearer several varied comforts. Itsopaqueness and strong tendency not to cling to the wearer address theissue of modesty.

The material's ability to repel water also allows the garment to remainlightweight, hence there is no added water-weight for the personperforming the baptism nor the wearer to bear when coming up out of thewater and exiting the baptismal pool. The openings for the neck, sleeveand torso are large enough that the water simply flows through sobillowing of the fabric is minimalized. Since the flannel is permanentlyfused to the back of the vinyl, it does not separate when wet and itssoftness keeps the wearer a bit warmer than they would normally be aswell as keeping the candidate from being scratched by the vinyl.Flannel-backed vinyl does not stretch, give or change its shape whenwet. It should be noted that though the garment will be used with a pairof scrub pants to be worn under the garment (simply for aestheticpurposes and an added measure of modesty), the scrub pants are not anecessity as the garment covers all necessary areas completely. Sinceflannel-backed vinyl is subject to extreme heat, the garment is to behand-washed and drip-dried; it is not to be washed in a washing machinenor dried in a dryer. Due to the hearty sturdiness of this material,which is usually used to make Water-repellent table cloths, the garmentmay be reused multiple times as long as the care instructions arestrictly followed, or it may be discarded after the initial use.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the garment indicating its shape andopenings as well as the flannel-backed vinyl fabric and placement ofseam binding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The neck opening 20, armholes 30, and bottom 40 are edged with seambinding. The garment has two seams 50 which run along the arm and thelength of each side. The garment is made of vinyl 60 with a fusedflannel backing 70.

1. I claim that this garment has been made of a fabric that addressesall of the aforementioned issues excellently (even down to its whitecolor, which is preferred during baptism as it represents the purity andcleanness of heart and soul with which the candidate will emerge afterbaptism), to the point that it solves all of these age-old concerns: Thesize of the garment also meets the need of churches to be able to use aone-size-fits-most garment for baptism in that during a time ofbaptizing several people during one service, there is the ease of simplytaking the first garment of a group and knowing that, regardless of whomit is handed to, it will fit and fully address any modesty concerns,which saves time and makes the experience much more seamless for thecandidates as well as the baptismal attendants.